Why bother writing songs? Fast forward to the "Don't Laugh Challenge"

Chapter 151 The Scent of Summer's Deepening (1)

In his early years, Kang Zhihong was actually a musician, and even made a name for himself during the millennium.

Unfortunately, he encountered some problems at the peak of his career, including a car accident that left him with health issues and prevented him from ever performing on stage again.

However, he was unwilling to let his music career die out. So after a period of depression, he regained his confidence, cheered up, and ventured into another field: transitioning behind the scenes to become a professional music critic.

With his professional skills, which allowed him to make a name for himself in the extremely competitive environment of the early 2000s, and his expertise as a singer-songwriter, he quickly won the recognition of many listeners.

For example, he was the chief music critic for FM106.1 Chinese Radio in his early years, and was well-known to a wide audience of Chinese listeners.

Later, with the progress and development of the times, FM cable radio began to decline, and the number of listeners decreased day by day. He left China Radio International and then signed with Sony China Radio International, becoming an exclusive music critic and publishing his reviews in professional magazines.

Later, in the fast-paced era of the internet, he ventured into the online world, opened his own self-media account, and quickly accumulated over a million followers with his extremely high level of professionalism.

Even now, he remains one of the most respected and top-tier music critics in China, deeply loved by audiences.

However, unlike other professional music critics, Kang Zhihong never accepts payment.

This is something that is common knowledge both inside and outside the industry.

Of course, it is precisely because of his absolutely objective and neutral evaluation style that he will not only focus on the shortcomings or advantages of a song, unless the quality really reaches the standard of polarization and there is really no other point to say.

Otherwise, he would point out the advantages and disadvantages of a piece of music.

Instead of praising or belittling one person.

This is also what attracts his fans the most.

For example, today is his workday.

It's called work, but it's really just live streaming.

Although the internet age is now prevalent, many people complain that it is a step backward in time and a reversal of history. Even sarcastic remarks such as "live streaming will revitalize the country" have begun to emerge.

But no one thought that this was actually the easiest way for ordinary people to get ahead and break free from poverty before a new opportunity emerged. It truly provided ordinary people with a channel to transcend social classes.

It has zero barriers to entry, anyone can join, and it is deeply integrated into various economic sectors, such as live-streaming e-commerce.

Perhaps the inability to regulate in many aspects in a timely manner can lead to some chaotic situations.

However, it cannot be denied that for the grand scheme of things, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Take Kang Zhihong for example.

In this day and age, it's really hard for music critics to make a living, even for a senior, top-tier music critic like him.

Because music is inherently subjective, most people don't care whether a song is a good song in the eyes of professionals or not; it doesn't matter if professionals think it's good.

If he likes it, it's a good song; if you say it's bad, he'll curse you to death.

Auditory things are the most subjective.

For many people, plagiarism is actually no big deal; you can't stop them from listening.

People need music critics less and less. Don't you see how many music review magazines aren't selling? How many music review columns are no longer being read?

If it weren't for the internet, even Kang Zhihong would have ended up starving!
So just start broadcasting, there's nothing to be ashamed of.

As soon as he started the live stream, tens of thousands of people flooded into his live stream room.

This is what makes him stand out. With his engaging and entertaining content, his ability to stay current, his knack for using internet memes, and the added appeal of a youthful image, he's a familiar face to many, which explains his consistently successful live streams. "Hello everyone, good evening! Have you all eaten?" Kang Zhihong greeted the live stream audience with a warm smile.

Good evening, Teacher Kang.

"Second Chi!"

"I'm coming!"

"Teacher Kang, have you eaten?"

"I've already eaten," Kang Zhihong chuckled. "I just finished eating, took a walk with my wife and son, and came back to start the broadcast for you guys. Today, I actually have a lot of content to share with you because... how should I put it? I don't know how many viewers know, but these past few days have been quite lively in our industry. There's a really big event that many people are looking forward to, and I guess quite a few of you know about it too."

Soon, viewers responded in the live chat.

"I know, Xia Shen started a new company, and then there was a conflict with Xi Die's side. Now both sides need to release albums. The two artists that Xia Shen's new company is launching this time are both from Xi Die's group to Shen Kong."

"This is quite intriguing. I suspect Xia Shen deliberately poached them, and now both sides are releasing new albums at the same time. If you say there's no tension behind this, I don't believe it."

"There's no gunpowder smell yet, but the gunpowder smell is almost overflowing from the screen. It's quite strong. Of course, this is a good thing for us listeners, as we can hear a lot of songs."

"Everyone is really looking forward to it. After all, I heard that this is a real large-scale competition. Xi Die's side has top-notch production, with more than a dozen gold-medal producers in charge of two EP albums. Xia Shen's side is personally involved, which will be very entertaining. The only person from China in the world's top 100 vs. more than a dozen gold-medal producers, damn, this is too exciting."

"So today, Teacher Kang's topic is to lead us to listen to their songs and then analyze them?"

"That's great! We definitely can't hear much from it ourselves."

Kang Zhihong smiled and nodded: "Yes, this is the content of our live broadcast today. There are still three minutes before the release. If nothing unexpected happens, they will probably release at the same time. This can actually be considered a signal."

He looked at the time.

Then, sure enough, about three minutes later, at exactly eight o'clock, he refreshed the page.

The music platform then updated its information regarding the release of new tracks.

Among them, the two artists from Xi Die stood out the most, as their new albums immediately occupied the opening animation and top promotion on Tencent Music as soon as they were released.

This surprised Kang Zhihong: "Wow! What a big operation! It seems Xidie has spent a lot of money this time!"

The comments section was filled with similar sentiments.

"Holy crap, this is top-notch marketing!"

"Wow, the opening animation is all over the news, that's incredible! I even saw it trending on Weibo. How much did they spend?"

"It seems that Xi Die is quite confident in these two newcomers, otherwise she wouldn't have promoted them at this level."

"A lot of top music critics also posted videos at the same time. I don't believe you if you say these weren't recorded immediately!"

"That's true, but we don't see anyone from Deep Space. There's no trending topic, no prominent promotional spots, and no music critics updating their videos yet. They've already fallen behind right from the start."

"There's nothing we can do. After all, a wealthy family is still a wealthy family. Compared to them, Xia Shen's side seems rather insignificant."

Kang Zhihong smiled and said, "Well then, since we've come across Xi Die's album first, let's start with theirs. Next, we'll guide everyone through a review of their two albums!"

Kang Zhihong directly clicked on the new album featured on the cover, purchased it, and started playing it.

(End of this chapter)